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Re: Why does Danny Granger get no criticism?

Granger is better scouted out this year. His tendencies and what he likes to do are all scouted out and these things are better known. He's not the first guy to have a breakout year that gets followed by a season where he shoots a lower percentage. That's how this league works.

And he's playing hurt. On top of all this, he doesn't have the help he had last year. Troy Murphy had a career season last year shooting the ball. This year, he's having a far worse year.

Jarrett Jack was a pretty clutch guy last year in the 4th quarter nailing all kinds of big shots. He was the Pacers 2nd best player in the 4th quarter. He's not here this season and the Pacers alternatives are an erratic TJ Ford and a Earl Watson, who has shot a career 41% FG.

Marquis Daniels was effective last year in certain spurts. He wasn't consistent due to his usual injuries, but when he played he gave a boost. That's not there this season.

Those are all big factors in putting a load on Granger. Dahntay Jones has been a nice surprise, but he's a career 7th/8th man, non-offensive role player who's been thrust into the #2 scoring option. That pretty much tells you what kind of team Danny has to carry. Is Granger forcing things? Sure. He doesn't have much of a choice when his team is consistently down double digits or blowing double digit leads.

You can try implementing a San Antonio Spurs type system to take the pressure off one guy as so many people on this board clamor for, but with this team's personnel, it's going to look a lot more like the Memphis Grizzlies than the Spurs (at least in the W-L column).

Re: Why does Danny Granger get no criticism?

What I do know is that every once in a while, and this happened during the GSW game, Danny will react to getting a rebound or swing pass by chucking up a contested three and leaving his teammates visibly wondering what the hell he's doing. He may feel like he has expectations now and has to choose poor shot selection occasionally. It doesn't really matter, he can do what he wants because he's Danny Granger. The condition is that he has to continue being Danny Granger, though.

Re: Why does Danny Granger get no criticism?

Probably because there's a lot more reason to criticize the coach. Trust me, he gives everyone all kinds of options. Too many to count.

Actually a better question is why would Granger get criticism? He has done just about everything right off the basketball court and done very well on it. He is our only all-star and has shed teeth on the floor to win games. He's even toned down his whining to the officials a bit IMO...which was my only criticism. No, he's not a great defensive player, but the other players who see the court are a whole lot worse on that side of the floor than Granger. What I do know is that Danny could be part of a very solid defense.

Maybe he should have lost some molars too. IDK. I think your time is best spent complaining about Troy Murphy and JOb.

So you are ok with 41% shooting, 35% 3pt shooting, taking 9 3pt shots a game(1 3pter less than half of the 3pters the team takes per game), poor shot selection, poor "D", poor handles, and poor leadership and attitude all b/c he lost some teeth last year against the Celtics. Personally, I expect more from a player who just got a 5 year 60 mil contract and was an Allstar last year. We definately have different expectations.

If his poor play is due to injuries, then shut him down, b/c this team is going no where anyway. I don't want to see another player playing b4 his injuries are healed.... been there too many times in the past. It's counter productive, and not in the best interest of Granger's future health or the Pacers.

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Re: Why does Danny Granger get no criticism?

I'll criticize Danny for his lack of leadership this season. He often seems lost in his own performance. From what I see on the court this season danny seems less like a leader than he was last season and last season he wasn't a leader either. So I would give him a solid D for his leadership.

Defense I'll be honest I have not focused on his defense, overall I would say it is better than last season, but not as good as it should be

Re: Why does Danny Granger get no criticism?

Danny is a very good player who will be at his best as part of a real team effort.
He is NOT an unstoppable superstar scorer. He has HAD to do too much shooting for this offensively challenged team the past 2 seasons. Now he's hurt and can't move well, so he's shooting jumpers when the defenders know he can't move so they are crowding him more.
When Dunleavy is back healthy and Roy grows into his role and they take some of the scoring pressure off Danny, then I think we'll see the old player again.
On a good team, with balanced scoring, he will be a real force.

Re: Why does Danny Granger get no criticism?

I think it's related to his reluctance to bend his knees very far. He's keeping the dribble higher and it appears teams are scouting that and digging. Why he's not bending his knees is the bigger story.

I think Danny deserves more criticism than any player not named TJ or Troy. How is the rest of the team supposed to react when the team leader is only leading the team in bad shots?

Re: Why does Danny Granger get no criticism?

I agree with those who feel that there are too many unrealistic expectations on Danny. No matter how you slice it Basketball is a team sport, and that is from the PTB, to the coaches to the 12th guy. We keep trying to run our team like we are ready to be playoff contenders when really we should concentrate on trying to put together a team. It seems like every night we have been getting killed by some young or unknown player like Mathews, Morrow, or Singleton who gets significant minutes while a better known higher paid player sits and watches from the bench. I also keep hearing from the coach how he wants to narrow our rotation down to nine players. That is what a playoff team does! We need to be concentrating on who plays well together and who we should keep and who we should be trying to package together for a trade. The other night on TBS Doug Collins said that he spoke with Phil Jackson and asked him. "How much of coaching in todays league is about Xs and Os, and how much is simply managing players?" Phil answered that 80% is managing and 20% is Xs and Os.

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Re: Why does Danny Granger get no criticism?

What the hell would Phil know about today's average coach? He has the most talent in the league %90 of the time, and rarely has to worry about X's and O's.

Ask guys like Mike D'Antoni or Jerry Sloan or Lawrence Frank that question.

He has the most talent because the organization is well managed.
My point is that Basketball is a team sport and you have to have talent to compete. D'Antoni, Frank, and Sloan would say the same thing, because none of them are winning anything without talent, heck Sloan's got about six or seven coveted players on his squad currently. Besides Danny,we have an entire team of players that could not start or supplant another teams starter at thier position.

Re: Why does Danny Granger get no criticism?

I introduced myself to this forum with a post to criticize Granger for his lack of leadership, toughness (more mentally, than physically) and his over reliance on what essentially amounts to nothing more than gunning it every chance he gets.

Danny had a great year last year, but most of this board thought that meant he was great. He's a good NBA player. He's not great.